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Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park infographics: what's built/what's coming/what's missing, who's responsible, + project FAQ/timeline (pinned post)

Before deciding to move (with subsidies) to One World Trade Center, Condé Nast apparently considered Atlantic Yards

In One World Trade Center: Making the Freedom Tower safe for Condé Nast., part of New York Magazine's special 9/11 Encyclopedia issue, there's a curious mention of... Atlantic Yards:
Around the time the Port Authority gained control of the building in 2006, Condé Nast executives began to discuss the future of their magazine empire. Condé’s lease at 4 Times Square was set to expire in 2019, and its broker, Mary Ann Tighe of CB Richard Ellis, worked with [Chairman Si] Newhouse to develop options...

For its role in remaking Times Square, Condé Nast had been rewarded with tax breaks, giving it an annual rent of about $40 per square foot. In looking for a similar deal, ­Newhouse’s team even pushed into outer boroughs, touring Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, addresses in Long Island City, and locations along the Jersey City waterfront. One morning in the fall of 2009, [Port Authority Executive Director Christopher] Ward got the call he’d been waiting for: Si ­Newhouse told him he wanted to tour ground zero. Months later, outlines of a deal emerged.
It's hard to imagine that Condé Nast would have left Manhattan--after all, don't some of their biggest magazines rely on close relationships with the fashion industry?

Note that broker Tighe has a longtime relationship with Forest City Ratner and bought a piece of the Nets (though I'm not sure she still has it). So either she was just doing Bruce Ratner a courtesy or someone thought the AY office space--with extra subsidies?--could have been spectacularly affordable.

Comments

  1. I imagine Anna Wintour was less than thrilled with the prospect of luncheoning at Charles E. Fromage, which we locals know better as Chuck E. Cheese.

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